By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
IN THE remote and mountainous regions of East Timor’s Ermera district, it is impossible to pick up a radio signal.
While a community radio station, Radio Café, was set up in Ermera in 2002, three of its outer sub-districts – Hatolia, Atsabe and Fatubessi – are too isolated to have access to its broadcast.
Recognising that these three sub-districts desperately need to be tuned in to their community’s news, an anonymous donor from Casey Radio in Victoria’s south-east has contributed AUD$5000 for additional transmitting equipment to allow the local radio to be broadcast to these areas.
President of the Friends of Ermera Jan Trezise, from Upper Beaconsfield, said the group was approached last year by the Radio Café board in order set up a radio broadcast in the remote sub-districts.
She then met with Casey Councillor Wayne Smith to discuss the viability of transmitting a wider radio signal in Ermera.
“During 2013 the board of Radio Café requested that the Friends of Ermera provide US$5000 to fund additional equipment so that people living in all of the Ermera District would be able to listen to the community radio programs,” she said.
“The Radio Café board was delighted to hear that an anonymous donor had donated AUD$5000 which together with the $640 already raised at a mayoral concert would be sufficient to fund the additional equipment required.”
Radio Café is managed by a 13-member board with representation from all of the Ermera sub-districts, and staffed by volunteers. It offers a diverse range of programs for the people of the region, including international and Timorese news as reported on national radio and messages from National Parliament.
The station also broadcasts health programs, discussions on children’s rights, a request program, and a talk show with local and national identities interviewed by volunteer journalists.
Ms Trezise said Radio Café was a pivotal news source for the region and she was determined to have it broadcast to the district’s remote areas.
“I think it’s absolutely vital, if you don’t have accurate information coming to you then it comes by whispers and rumours,” she said.
“It’s vital for all the health and community development programs and it empowers the local people to know just what’s going on. For too long the people in the remote districts have been missing out.”
In addition to the increased radio coverage in East Timor, the Friends of Ermera are working with Radio Café to ensure there is a volunteer journalist in each small town in the region, to act as a bridge between the local townspeople and Radio Café volunteers.
“The volunteers are delighted and I got the benefit of all the enthusiasm and generosity,” Ms Trezise said.
“If it’s something significant they present you with a piece of woven material, significant to that area, and they present it like a scarf around your neck. That will find its way to the donor somehow.”
Ms Trezise thanked the City of Casey for their ongoing support of the Friends of Ermera and their contribution to the East Timorese district.
